Saltsman Gets a Bum Rap

Republican Party Chairman Mike Duncan who is facing some stiff opposition next month to retain his job criticized oneof his rivals today for his choice of a Christmas gift to friends and supporters.

Chip Saltsman, the former Tennessee State Party Chair and aide to Mike Huckabee during the 2008 presidential campaign sent out a cd from fellow Tennessean Paul Shanklin containing a song called “Barack the Magic Negro” which is a parody of the Peter, Paul and Mary hit “Puff the Magic Dragon” that has been aired on the Rush Limbaugh program.

Duncan for his part seems to be doing the liberal media’s bidding with his criticism as the party struggles to define itself after back to back election cycle beatings.

Shanklin who is the main provider of parodies to the Limbaugh program has been producing albums taking shots at Democrats since the Clinton years and has performed several parodies about Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan so while the media thinks he might be insensitive he really is just being politically incorrect at most since he won’t avoid poking fun of liberal just because they are black for the fear of being labeled a racist.

Even Ken Blackwell, the former Ohio Secretary of State who is running against Saltsman thinks the whole thing has been blown out of proportion and thinks the press is hypersensitive since Obama is going to be the first black president.

There hasn’t been any comment from the Obama camp and since the song has been played on the radio for months this isn’t exactly a fresh attack on him so they would be better off just letting it go. Especially since it looks like the GOP will do enough damage on its own to fan charges of racism where none exists.

If this is the best Duncan can do, then maybe he needs to go. This should never have been an issue in the first place and he has done more damage to the party by bringing this issue up. Couple that with his so called leadership during the 2008 election and you can predict what will happen in 2010 if he is still around.